Driving through the sandstorm on wheels was infinitely easier than moving on foot. It could even be called some kind of entertainment… An extremely dangerous one. If someone from the old world had seen Sam driving like this, his license would have been revoked instantly.
Sam could hear the girl constantly screaming as he ascended the sandy hills and launched into the air without slowing down. But Sam felt right at home, maybe he had done something similar in a past life?
They successfully distanced themselves from the center of the sandstorm, and now it could be said that it had practically stopped. Of course, the wind was still a huge obstacle, and the dust and sand continued to get into their mouths, noses, and ears. But it was nothing compared to what they had faced when they first left the complex.
An hour later, they successfully made it through the storm.
As soon as Sam realized there was no storm around them anymore, he decided not to stop but to find a place to rest. His eyes were closing, and he noticed that the girl was also struggling to stay awake. They had both done a great job surviving this sandy hell. It was, in fact, a significant achievement.
Sam had some experience with a storm before, during his second-to-last escape attempt, before this one. Back then, the storm had only lightly touched him, but it was an unbearable ordeal that led to his eventual capture.
'Surviving a storm near the center on the first try… She's really a tough one.'
Surviving a storm required not just good physical abilities—no, the most essential thing was adaptability. Sam was lucky in that regard, having lived in the terrible conditions of solitary confinement, where he was fed once, sometimes twice, a day.
This somehow toughened him up, at least that's what he thought.
But the girl was probably well-fed rather than poorly. She was a rare genius in engineering, and naturally, everyone treated her well, especially given the fact that she was quite obedient.
Soon, Sam saw something that looked like a rock. It was about 20 meters high, and at its base, there was a decent overhang. After a brief discussion with the girl, they decided to stop there. Once they were under the overhang, Sam turned off the headlights. The sun was already setting, but they could still see a bit under the overhang.
Sam got out first, followed by the girl. She was carrying one ration in her hands. Sam noticed her condition. Her robe was in poor shape in several places, ready to tear at any moment. Her face was dark from the dust, and she was swaying slightly.
The same could be said about Sam. He felt, at best... battered. His body ached horribly, his lungs burned with every breath. His ears were plugged and sore. He lightly shook his hair and saw the sand scatter around like dandruff. The girl silently looked him over but said nothing. Neither of them felt much like talking, and they understood that.
The girl sat down on the sand by the car's bumper and opened the ration. Sam silently joined her. She pulled out two cans and handed one to him. He took it silently and removed his glove. He noticed something… His claws were gone.
But as soon as he thought about it, they slowly extended again. Now he understood why the glove hadn't torn at the fingers, something he hadn't paid much attention to before.
'Useful function.'
He decided to use his claws as intended—as a can opener. First, he opened his own can, then the second one for the girl. She handed him something like a fork. Sam was still amused that they looked comically large, about twice the size of what he was used to.
'Wait… How does she even know how to use them?'
Sam looked at the girl, who had taken a spoon and was already eating the contents of her can. Her can contained the same jelly they had eaten back in the complex. Lowering his gaze to his own can, Sam saw something… strange. He had never seen such food before, though it still bore some resemblance.
In his can were small rhombus-shaped crystals. Each of them was small and fairly thin. Picking up one of these crystals, he threw it into his mouth and began to chew. And oh god, it was incredible.
At first, he noticed that the crystals were quite soft and seemed to melt in his mouth. The taste was initially quite sour, making Sam's face scrunch up slightly, but then a pleasant, light sweetness replaced the sourness. He almost immediately felt lighter and noticed that he was now less tired.
As he savored his can, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that the girl was watching him, then looking at his can. Sam smiled and sighed, silently offering her the can she had been eyeing for a few seconds.
"Thanks…" she said in a hoarse voice, taking one of the crystals.
She instantly threw it into her mouth. Like Sam, her face initially scrunched up a bit, but then her expression changed to a smile.
"These things are really tasty!" she said in a more energetic voice, once again bringing a smile to Sam's face.
"Well, the ancients sure knew how to cook; you can't take that away from them. Just look at this jelly, I've been dreaming of trying it."
The girl looked at him with a questioning expression.
"How do you know what it's called? Do you actually know something about the ancients?"
Sam understood why the girl was surprised. She didn't know that he had seen similar food many times before in his past life. The crystals were the only new thing for him; otherwise, he hadn't seen anything particularly remarkable so far.
"Uh, no? Just something one of the elders mentioned… Yeah…"
Sam said the first thing that came to mind, earning a slightly skeptical look from the girl. Then she just shrugged and returned to eating. He decided to get up and take a little walk. The girl also seemed like she wanted to get up, but he stopped her with a wave of his hand. She shrugged again and just continued eating.
Sam, in turn, stepped out from under the overhang and looked at the setting sun. It was the same color as on his planet, though when it set like this, it seemed to have a slight blue tint instead of the usual red—on his planet.
'I wonder what happened to Earth? Does it even exist in this world?'
He occasionally thought about it. Were there any records of Earth left? The elders said they had heard almost nothing about such a planet. But the key word was "almost." Earth, according to their stories, was something like a huge resort world. That's all he knew.
'It would be nice to find out if there are any records of one unremarkable rocker… I remember my face was almost everywhere on the internet. I wonder how music is developed now? Is dubstep still alive?'
Sam even chuckled a little at that last thought. Yeah, dubstep had practically died out a long time ago; he even doubted that the genre and term still existed. Maybe the word itself was gone too.
He relaxedly watched as the sun finally dipped below the horizon, covering the desert in a veil of darkness. Night was falling. Nights in this desert were cool, sometimes even incredibly cold. As for seasons… There were none here. There was eternal heat during the day and coolness at night.
A light, cool breeze blew across Sam's face, making him relax even more. Right now, he was incredibly happy; he had managed to escape from the camp. For all his 16 years, he had been trying to escape this hell, and finally… He succeeded.
But everything was just beginning; he understood that to achieve the freedom he wanted, he still needed to leave the planet and escape the slavers' sector. But he was too tired to make a plan right now. The wind relaxed him even more, making him ready to collapse onto the sand and sleep right where he stood.
Seeing the sun completely set and the desert covered in darkness, he slowly returned to the cave. Now the visibility was quite poor, but he could still navigate.
"So, are you full?" the girl's voice suddenly asked before he saw her. However, a few seconds later, he saw her silhouette in the darkness.
"I think so. So, who's going to keep watch first? Or did you think we'd sleep together?" Sam said, chuckling slightly.
The girl was clearly well-fed; her voice was extremely lively, and he was even slightly surprised at how energetic and healthy she sounded.
"You recovered quickly. Then I guess I'll be the first to sleep; you can wake me if anything happens," he said lazily, yawning at the end. He slowly walked toward the car and heard the girl breathing heavily. This seemed strange to him, so he wanted to ask her about it.
Suddenly, he felt someone grab his left shoulder, and with their right hand, cover his mouth. His heart was ready to jump out of his chest at that moment; he was incredibly scared and was about to scream when he heard the girl's hoarse voice.
"Wait… Don't go there… That wasn't me talking."
'What?'